Martina McBride is known as a country music superstar, but she also had a pop hit. In 2003, McBride released “This One’s For The Girls”. On her seventh studio album, appropriately called Martina, the song landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.
Written by Chris Lindsey, Hillary Lindsey, and Aimee Mayo, the feel-good anthem is all about celebrating women at various stages throughout their lives. The song says in part, “This one’s for the girls / Who’ve ever had a broken heart / Who’ve wished upon a shooting star / You’re beautiful the way you are / This one’s for the girls / Who love without holding back / Who dream with everything they have / All around the world / This one’s for the girls.”
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Although McBride didn’t write “This One’s For The Girls”, she immediately fell in love with the catchy song.
“It can be difficult to find an uptempo song with substance,” McBride tells Billboard. “I love the way this song hits on different stages of life. It’s really timeless, I think. I look out and see young girls singing it at the top of their lungs when I perform it live. Sometimes I see a couple of generations of women sharing the experience of the song. That’s really cool.”
Why Martina McBride Recorded “This One’s For The Girls”
McBride says that, although “This One’s For The Girls” sounded more pop than country, it was a quick yes for her the first time she heard it.
“This One’s For The Girls” was an immediate no-brainer for me,” McBride recalls. “I loved the fact that it was up-tempo and fun, but it also had something to say. It felt like such a positive message, and it’s still one of my favorite songs to do live. It’s like a shot of energy that goes through the crowd.”
“This One’s For The Girls” is McBride’s biggest pop hit, but it isn’t her only one. In 1999, McBride hit the Top 25 with her catchy “I Love You” from the Julia Roberts film, Runaway Bride. The song also appears on her Emotion record, which includes “There You Are”, a Top 15 pop hit. Immediately after “This One’s For The Girls”, McBride released “In My Daughter’s Eyes”, which became a Top 5 pop hit. Her last Top 10 pop hit came in 2006, with “Anyway”.
McBride may have been on the pop charts a few times, but her heart remains in country music. An outspoken advocate of the genre, McBride became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1995.
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